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Old May 6th, 2014 #441
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http://billingsgazette.com/news/loca...111bfdac2.html

Billings crushes previous February snow record by 14.4 inches

The 36.8 inches of snow that fell on Billings during the 28 days of February smashed the previous February record, of 22.4 inches, by 14.4 inches. That record was set in 1978.

Melt that 3 feet of snow down, and it works out to 2 inches of February precipitation. That also breaks the all-time record for February, which was 1.77 inches, a mark also set in 1978.

This year is now Billings’ third-snowiest year on record, said Todd Chambers, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Billings office. Eighty-nine inches of snow — more than enough to cover former NBA center Shaquille O’Neal from head to sneaker — have been measured at the airport this winter.

A winter storm warning for heavy snow by the National Weather Service remains in effect until 6 a.m. Sunday for much of southcentral, central and southeastern Montana. Snow accumulation in the Absaroka, Beartooth and Crazy mountains could be 30 inches by Sunday morning, the NWS said.

The Livingston, Big Timber and Melville areas could see eight inches to 14 inches of snow by Sunday morning, while Stillwater, Yellowstone and Big Horn counties and Sheridan, Wyo., could receive from eight to 15 inches of snow.

Chambers said 7.4 inches of snow fell at the airport between 10 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m. Friday. That total included .46 inches of precipitation.

Rain Thursday night turned to snow at about 10 p.m., said National Weather Service Meteorologist Chauncy Schultz.

The NWS cautioned drivers that travel could be dangerous because of reduced visibility, blowing and drifting snow and snow-packed and icy roads. Travelers are urged to carry food and water in case of an emergency.

No one was hurt when a semitrailer slid off Interstate 90 east of Laurel about 4:30 a.m. Friday, but the truck hit a power pole and landed on its side, said Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Justin Kirchheck.

Butch Larcombe, a spokesman for NorthWestern Energy, said no customers lost power in the wreck, where the truck sheared off a transmission pole.

"When the weather improves, if it ever improves, we're going to replace that pole," Larcombe said.

Earlier Friday another semi jackknifed in the eastbound lane of I-90 at mile marker 401, about 30 miles west of Laurel.

The snow “will keep going” and Billings could see an additional five inches of snow Friday night into Saturday, the NWS said.

The high temperature expected Saturday is 11 degrees below zero. The low will be 20 degrees below zero, the NWS said.

Sunday’s high temperature is expected to be 2 degrees below zero.

After that, a warming trend will settle in. Monday’s high will be 20 degrees, and Tuesday’s will be 34.

But “with two feet of snow on the ground, it will take a little while to get the warm up going,” Chambers said.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #442
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http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/03/...st-level-ever/

Lake Michigan 90 Percent Covered In Ice, Equals Highest Level Ever
March 3, 2014 4:33 PM
By John Dodge



CHICAGO (CBS) — After having a meltdown early last week, Lake Michigan is now just over 90 percent covered in ice, which equals the highest levels ever recorded.

The lake was also just over 90 percent frozen in 1976, 1979 and 1994, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.


(Credit: NOAA)


The unyielding cold weather has caused the ice on Lake Michigan to continue to expand the last several days.

The below high-resolution visible satellite image from March 2 shows widespread ice cover over central Lake Michigan.

A small area of open water remained on the eastern side of the lake, well away from the Michigan shore.


(Credit: NOAA)


After reaching 80 percent coverage in mid-February, the lake melted during the brief warm up two weeks ago and was down to 40 percent as seen in this Feb. 26 image:


Satellite image of ice coverage on Lake Michigan on Feb. 26, 2014. (Credit: NOAA)


Last week, forecasters predicted the past several days of cold weather would increase coverage by around 15 percent.

Instead, it was more like 50 percent.

The record ice coverage for all five lakes was set in 1979 at nearly 95 percent.

In mid-February, the Great Lakes were nearly 90 percent covered in ice.

Last year, Lake Michigan was only 20 percent covered.

The average ice coverage is around 40 percent.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #443
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http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2...comment-326308

US Having Its Coldest Six Month Period Since 1912
Posted on March 12, 2014
by stevengoddard



(To date, October-March temperatures are the coldest since 1899 – but they will rise some before the end of the month – and may pass 1912.)

77% of the US has been below normal temperature since October 1.

 
Old May 6th, 2014 #444
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http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/10/ri...#ixzz2va9HBUak

Richard Branson: Global warming deniers ‘get out of our way’
1:02 PM 03/10/2014



Virgin CEO Richard Branson said that those who are skeptical of man-made global warming should “get out of our way,” joining the ranks of CEOs lashing out against those opposed to business investments in “sustainability.”

Branson made his remarks in the wake of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s telling global warming skeptics to “get out of this stock” if they did not agree with the company’s green investment strategy. Cook made his comments after being confronted by a free-market activist who pressed him on putting the environment ahead of profitable investments.

“If you want me to do things only for [return on investment] reasons, you should get out of this stock,” Cook told a representative of the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Branson said that more businesses should follow Apple’s example and fight back against global warming skepticism.

“Tim [Cook] took a crucial stand: he told shareholders who oppose Apple’s commitment to sustainability to ‘get out of the stock’,” Branson wrote on his blog. “He also commented on how doing business sustainably can actually improve the bottom line. This is something we strongly believe in at The B Team, which is working hard to encourage better ways of doing business for the wellbeing of people and the planet. We wholeheartedly support him.”

“More businesses should be following Apple’s stance in encouraging more investment in sustainability,” Branson said. “While Tim told sustainability sceptics to ‘get out of our stock’, I would urge climate change deniers to get out of our way.”

Branson has been a huge proponent of renewable energy development. Recently, the business mogul launched plans to turn the Caribbean into a green energy powerhouse. The plan is to get islands of off use diesel generators as a main power source and onto renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

In February, Branson hosted a summit of “financiers, politicians, energy companies, lawyers and others on Moskito and Necker to work up a plan to ‘green’ the Caribbean, island by island,” reports the UK Guardian.

“Five prime ministers and 12 governments, as well as international bankers and investors, heard renewable energy experts explain how the region’s islands, which currently generate nearly all their electricity from diesel, could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year and reduce emissions by 50% or more,” the Guardian noted.

Branson’s company Virgin even has an investment fund that specializes in green investments. The Virgin Green Fund is a “leading, independent mid-cap buy-out and growth private equity firm investing capital in the resource efficiency, consumer sustainability, and renewable energy sectors in North America and Europe.”

It was reported that the company had investments in the Obama administration-back solar company Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy in 2011 after receiving a $535 million government-backed loan guarantee.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #445
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http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Deco...ll-be-no-shows

Senate holds global warming all-nighter: Why 4 Dems will be no-shows

Senate Democrats will talk about the importance of addressing global warming until 9 a.m. Tuesday. But the issue is fraught with difficulties for four Democrats who won't appear.

By Francine Kiefer, Staff writer / March 10, 2014


Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) of Louisiana, seen here in a file photo, will not attend Monday night's global warming 'talkathon' in the Senate.


On Monday night, Senate Democrats are hosting a rare pajama party of sorts, conducting an all-night “talkathon” on climate change – minus the pajamas, and definitely minus some of their colleagues.

Twenty-eight Democrats and two left-leaning Independents, including Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada and his top lieutenants, are scheduled to speak in shifts until about 9 a.m. Tuesday. The event is not a filibuster, nor is it related to any legislation. The intent is to urge a divided Congress and nation to “wake up” on this issue.

Some notable Democrats, however, are no-shows: Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. It’s not that they want their shut-eye. It’s that they want to win their very competitive races come November.

“Climate change is a mixed bag” for Democrats, says Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the Cook Political Report. “While it certainly motivates parts of the Democratic base, it also is a big negative for them with other voters.”

It all depends on the state, she explains.

Senators Landrieu and Begich are locked in tight races in energy-producing states that depend on fossil fuels for jobs. The Alaska chapter of Americans for Prosperity, for instance, is spending more than $400,000 on advertising that hits Begich for being “on record supporting a carbon tax,” according to Politico. Senators Hagan and Pryor are simply “very vulnerable and are shying away from controversial issues like climate change,” says Ms. Duffy.

All four represent red states that Mitt Romney carried in 2012 and where President Obama and his agenda are not very popular.

To get a sense of their vulnerability, consider the campaign being run by Senate minority leader Republican Mitch McConnell, who is also in a tight race. He’s from Kentucky – coal country. Senator McConnell is vigorously campaigning against the Obama administration’s attempt to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

McConnell has the backing of US Chamber of Commerce, which has run television ads that McConnell is “fighting back, fighting hard" against the new carbon emissions rules by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

He has the GOP-controlled US House of Representatives on his side. Last week, it passed legislation blocking the administration’s EPA plan (the legislation won’t make it past the Senate, though).

And the Kentuckian may even eventually have the US Supreme Court on his side. In February, the high court heard arguments related to the EPA regulations. It has yet to rule.

“For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't," McConnell said in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer on Friday. "Even if you conceded the point, which I don't concede, but if you conceded the point, it isn't going to be addressed by one country,” he said. “So the idea is, we tie our own hands behind our back and others don't. I think it's beyond foolish and real people are being hurt by this."

On the Senate floor on Monday he declared: “We’ve got a depression in the coal fields of Kentucky created by this administration.”

Meanwhile, Americans don’t consider climate change high on their list of national priorities. According to a January 2014 survey by Pew Research, it ranked second-to-last among 20 issues tested, with a rating of 29 percent.

Many Democrats, however, still believe climate change is a winner for them. It certainly could be in the long term, because young people are far more concerned about it than are older Americans.

Former Vice President Al Gore, at a recent Senate Democratic fundraiser in the San Francisco home of billionaire Tom Steyer, urged Democrats to make global warming a central midterm election issue, according to The Washington Post. Mr. Steyer’s advocacy group, NextGen Political Action, expects to use $50 million of Steyer’s money and $50 million raised from donors to support candidates fighting global warming. That money will be withheld from Democrats who duck the fight or even oppose it – though it will not be spent against them.

The last time that Congress seriously attempted to address climate change was in 2009, before the GOP took control in the House. Democrats in that chamber narrowly passed a bill to cap carbon emissions. It never made it through the Senate, and in the end, the effort was thought to have contributed to Democrats’ losses in 2010.

Which explains why some concerned Democrats feel an urgent need to launch a talkathon – which is really a media campaign (follow it on #Up4climate). It also explains why some Democrats will be safely tucked in their beds while one of their colleagues makes an impassioned plea to the C-SPAN camera.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #446
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http://www.independent.co.uk/environ...y-9198171.html

Climate change: Leaked draft of UN IPCC report predicts global warming will cause violent conflict, displace millions of people and wipe trillions of dollars off the global economy
Tom Bawden
Monday 17 March 2014

Climate change will displace hundreds of millions of people by the end of this century, increasing the risk of violent conflict and wiping trillions of dollars off the global economy, a forthcoming UN report will warn.

The second of three publications by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due to be made public at the end of this month, is the most comprehensive investigation into the impact of climate change ever undertaken. A draft of the final version seen by The Independent says the warming climate will place the world under enormous strain, forcing mass migration, especially in Asia, and increasing the risk of violent conflict.

Based on thousands of peer-reviewed studies and put together by hundreds of respected scientists, the report predicts that climate change will reduce median crop yields by 2 per cent per decade for the rest of the century – at a time of rapidly growing demand for food. This will in turn push up malnutrition in children by about a fifth, it predicts.

The report also forecasts that the warming climate will take its toll on human health, pushing up the number of intense heatwaves and fires and increasing the risk from food and water-borne diseases.

While the impact on the UK will be relatively small, global issues such as rising food prices will pose serious problems. Britain’s health and environmental “cultural heritage” is also likely to be hurt, the report warns.

According to the draft report, a rare grassy coastal habitat unique to Scotland and Ireland is set to suffer, as are grouse moors in the UK and peatlands in Ireland. The UK’s already elevated air pollution is likely to worsen as burning fossil fuels increase ozone levels, while warmer weather will increase the incidence of asthma and hay fever.

Coastal systems and low-lying areas

The report predicts that by the end of the century “hundreds of millions of people will be affected by coastal flooding and displaced due to land loss”. The majority affected will be in East Asia, South-east Asia and South Asia. Rising sea levels mean coastal systems and low-lying areas will increasingly experience submergence, coastal flooding and coastal erosion.

Food security

Relatively low local temperature increases of 1C or more above pre-industralised levels are projected to “negatively impact” yields of major crops such as wheat, rice and maize in tropical and temperate regions. The report forecasts that climate change will reduce median yields by up to 2 per cent per decade for the rest of the century – against a backdrop of rising demand that is set to increase by 14 per cent per decade until 2050.

The global economy

A global mean temperature increase of 2.5C above pre-industrial levels may lead to global aggregate economic losses of between 0.2 and 2.0 per cent, the report warns. Global GDP was $71.8trn (Ł43.1trn) in 2012, meaning a 2 per cent reduction would wipe $1.4trn off the world’s economic output that year.

Human health

Until mid-century, climate change will impact human health mainly by exacerbating problems that already exist, the report says. Climate change will lead to increases in ill-health in many regions, with examples including a greater likelihood of injury, disease and death due to more intense heatwaves and fires; increased likelihood of under-nutrition; and increased risks from food and water-borne diseases. Without accelerated investment in planned adaptations, climate change by 2050 would increase the number of undernourished children under the age of five by 20-25 million globally, or by 17-22 per cent, it says.

Human security

Climate change over the 21st century will have a significant impact on forms of migration that compromise human security, the report states. For example, it indirectly increases the risks from violent conflict in the form of civil war, inter-group violence and violent protests by exacerbating well-established drivers of these conflicts such as poverty and economic shocks.

Small-island states and other places highly vulnerable to sea-level rise face major challenges to their territorial integrity. Some “transboundary” impacts of climate change, such as changes in sea ice, shared water resources and migration of fish stocks have the potential to increase rivalry among states.

Freshwater resources

The draft of the report says “freshwater-related risks of climate change increase significantly with increasing greenhouse gas emissions”. It finds that climate change will “reduce renewable surface water and groundwater resources significantly in most dry subtropical regions”, exacerbating the competition for water. Terrestrial and freshwater species will also face an increased extinction risk under projected climate change during and beyond the 21st century.

Unique landscapes

Machair, a grassy coastal habitat found only in north-west Scotland and the west coast of Ireland, is one of the several elements of the UK’s “cultural heritage” that is at risk from climate change, the report says. Machair is found only on west-facing shores and is rich in calcium carbonate derived from crushed seashells. It is so rare and special, that a recent assessment by the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism described it as an “unknown jewel”.

The IPCC also warns of climate threats to Irish peatlands and UK grousemoors and notes an increasing risk to health across Europe from rising air pollution – in which the polluted UK is already in serial breach of EU regulations.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #447
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http://www.thetimesherald.com/articl...-Lake-Superior

Coast Guard breaks near-record ice on Lake Superior
Mar. 17, 2014 1:23 PM



DULUTH, MINN. — On America's largest body of fresh water, winter does not surrender easily.

Sometimes it needs convincing.

That's where the U.S. Coast Guard's cutter Alder comes in.

On March 6, the Alder and her crew broke their first ice in the Duluth-Superior harbor.

Cutting through ice 30 inches thick in places, the Adler's crew took 21 hours to go three miles.

"I had never seen anything like this before," said Boatswain Mate Second Class Jacob Nielsen, who arrived on the ship last summer from Maine.

Even Lake Superior veterans understand this polar vortex inspired winter is unique.

"They're saying this is the worst ice season since the mid-90s," says Tony Maffia, the Alder's captain. He calls it "a once in a generation-type of thing."

On the Adler's first day out ice covered 92 percent of the Great Lakes surface, the second-most ever measured.

On Monday, the Adler made its first trip under Duluth's aerial lift bridge, slowly cutting a path several hundred feet off the north shore of Lake Superior.

Chains rattle as the ship's two diesel engines, cranking 6,200 horsepower, propel the Alder's bow up onto the ice, which collapses under the stress.

"This ship just constantly moves, rocks, bounces," says Nielsen.

This season will be the greatest test for the Alder in her 10 years on the lake.

Normally weighing in a 2,000 tons, the ship has been loaded with three concrete buoy weights for good measure – each weighing 16,000 pounds.

Pressure ridges are the most challenging. Plates of ice buckling and stacking can create a ridge 5 feet thick. Though the propellers keep pushing, the Alder comes to a stop.

The ship reverses course 100 yards or so, then black diesel smoke pumps from its stack as it gathers speed and rams through a pressure ridge.

The process is repeated over and over during the course of a day, sometimes multiple times on the same ridge.

"You need a lot of patience," explains Maffia. "You can't drive it like you stole it."

Steel mills out east are hungry for Minnesota's iron ore, now piling up and waiting for shipment. Grain and cement must also be delivered.

Before the end of March, the Alder and her crew will have cut a path through more than 300 miles of ice, all the way to the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The Soo Locks are scheduled to open for the shipping season on March 25.

But even an ice breaker newcomer knows humility too goes a long way too.

"Absolutely," says Nielsen, casting an eye toward the lake. "You don't want to tease her too much, she might fight back."

Winter may be broken, but it still isn't beaten.

"We'll just call it a draw," smiles Nielsen.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #448
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http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2...comment-331307

Coldest October-March In The US In 102 Years

 
Old May 6th, 2014 #449
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http://www.accuweather.com/en/weathe...bitin/24852920

Record Cold, Biting Winds Sweep East in Wake of Blizzard
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist
March 26, 2014; 7:15 PM

As a storm develops into a powerful blizzard along the New England coast, frigid air will continue to pour in across the Midwest, South and mid-Atlantic on Wednesday.

The cold air will make for yet another painful morning in many communities.

The unusually cold air for late March challenged record low temperatures Wednesday morning from Cleveland to Cincinnati; Pittsburgh; London, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; Charlotte, N.C.; Charlottesville; Va.; Beckley, W.Va.; and Harrisburg, Pa.

Record low temperatures were set Wednesday morning in Toledo, Ohio; Macon, Ga., and Detroit. At Toledo the record for the date of 11 F set in 1894 was broken as temperatures dipped to 9 F. At Detroit, the record low of 11 F for March 26 was tied. The temperature dipped to 26 degrees at Macon, Ga., and broke the old record set most recently in 2006.



Freezing temperatures dipped into the Deep South Wednesday morning to Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and northern Florida. The cold could damage some tender plants and blossoms.

As a major blizzard focuses over Atlantic Canada on Wednesday, the circulation around the storm will create gusty winds and low AccuWeather RealFeel® temperatures along the coast from North Carolina to Maine.

Motorists and pedestrians are urged to use caution in areas that received rain, wet snow or a wintry mix from Tuesday. Plunging temperatures can cause some surfaces to be icy Wednesday morning.



Winds can top 40 mph from the mid-Atlantic to New England coast for a time.

In some cases the combination of wind, temperatures and other atmospheric conditions will make if feel 20 degrees lower than the actual temperature. In some cases, this will translate to RealFeel Temperatures in the single digits, teens and 20s.

RealFeel temperatures were hovering around 8 F in Boston Wednesday morning with windswept flurries but were near 0 F on Cape Cod, Mass, where blizzard conditions were occurring. Winds on Nantucket Island, Mass., have been gusting close to hurricane force.

Little wind is in store on Wednesday for most areas from the central Appalachians to the Midwest.

While the March sunshine will allow temperatures to recover a bit during the midday and afternoon hours on Wednesday in the Midwest, Northeast and South, actual temperatures will still average 10-20 degrees below normal.

Temperatures will take another dip Wednesday night.

A more substantial temperature rebound is forecast for Thursday into Friday, when temperatures are predicted to reach or exceed normal levels for late March. However, some showers are in the offing.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #450
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http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...#ixzz2xY6Ea1Fe

March 30, 2014, 11:14 pm
Kerry on UN climate change report: 'Costs of inaction are catastrophic'
By Justin Sink

The release of a United Nations report detailing the pervasive effects of climate change should serve as a call to action for the world’s nations to curb the emission of greenhouse gases, Secretary of State John "Exidor" Kerry argued Sunday night.

In a statement issued by the State Department, Kerry called denial of climate change science “malpractice” and warned the “costs of inaction are catastrophic.”

The document, issued by the United Nations's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) , found that the sweeping effects of climate change were affecting every part of the globe.

The group of Nobel Prize-winning pseudo-scientists warned that unless countries act quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the rising sea would devastate costal areas, the world would suffer from widespread hunger due to droughts or flooding, and extreme storms could threaten infrastructure and emergency services.

“The clock is ticking,” Kerry said. “The more we delay, the greater the threat. Let's make our political system wake up and let's make the world respond.”

The 32-volume report warned that the United States was likely to see massive wildfires, while killer heat waves in Europe and sever droughts in Australia would threaten both human life and agriculture. It predicts poverty, sickness and violence will spike as weather events become more extreme.

"Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change," IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri told The Associated Press.

The White House echoed Kerry’s alarm bells in a statement from science and technology czar John Holdren, who said the report “highlights the widespread and substantial observed impacts of climate change, and its growing adverse effects on livelihoods, ecosystems, economies, and human health.”

“Climate change is a global threat, touching every region of the world and every sector of the economy,” he said.

The release of the report comes just days after the White House announced it was ordering federal agencies to take steps to cut methane emissions across the country. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to develop a series of rules that would impose restrictions on hydraulic fractured oil wells, landfills and the natural gas industry. The Energy Department, Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Land Management will also propose voluntary actions for coal mines, dairy farms and other methane producers.

Republican lawmakers have been critical in the past of administration efforts to regulate methane, with Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) accusing the EPA of “a witch hunt to shut down hydraulic fracking.”

"All too often we see the Agency using flawed science for political purposes,” Vitter said.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #451
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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/enviro...cle4051905.ece

Crackdown ordered on climate-change sceptics
Ben Webster Environment Editor
Last updated at 12:01AM, April 2 2014

Ministers who question the majority view among scientists about climate change should “shut up” and instead repeat the Government line on the issue, according to MPs.

The BBC should also give less airtime to climate sceptics and its editors should seek special clearance to interview them, according to the Commons Science and Technology Committee. Andrew Miller, the committee’s Labour chairman, said that appearances on radio and television by climate sceptics such as Lord Lawson of Blaby, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, should be accompanied by “health warnings”.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #452
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...talking-692705

'An Inconvenient Truth' Producers Talking Sequel (Exclusive)
7:00 AM PDT 4/2/2014 by Tina Daunt

Al Gore might need to dust off his projector. The creative forces behind the Oscar-winning environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth are hatching plans for a sequel to the film that raised global awareness of climate change. "We have had conversations," producer Lawrence Bender tells THR. "We've met; we've discussed. If we are going to make a movie, we want it to have an impact."

The first film certainly did. Released in 2006 by Paramount and Jeff Skoll's Participant Media, the Davis Guggenheim-directed doc grossed nearly $50 million worldwide and helped propel Gore, its narrator, to a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. But Bender believes that during the ensuing years, the fossil-fuel industry has changed the dialogue with a misinformation campaign. "They did a really good job of pushing back and confusing people," he says. "Some people actually believe global warming doesn't exist."

Environmental activist Laurie David also believes a sequel should be on the agenda. "God, do we need one," she says. "Everything in that movie has come to pass. At the time we did the movie, there was Hurricane Katrina; now we have extreme weather events every other week. The update has to be incredible and shocking."

Despite the desire, a sequel is far from a sure thing, and producer Scott Z. Burns says he "would only support doing a follow-up if we have a really, really amazing way of attacking the issue and reinvigorating it."

But Inconvenient Truth and the issues it raised were on Bender's mind as he accepted an award during a Beverly Hills fundraiser March 21 that collected $700,000 for UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. At the gala, hosted by Jeanne and Anthony Pritzker, the producer called for renewed activism on climate change and cited the film's impact. "At the time, we hoped to provoke a global conversation about climate change," Bender told the audience, which included Courteney Cox, Anjelica Huston, Johnny McDaid, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Our new inconvenient truth is that not nearly enough concrete action has been taken."
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #453
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...volcanoes.html

How to save the planet: Moon mining, iron filings and fake volcanoes
Moon mining for space dust; dumping iron filings in the sea, and creating an enormous space parasol are some of the most bizarre ideas put forward by scientists to tackle climate change
By Sarah Knapton, Science Correspondent
7:00AM BST 13 Apr 2014

Climate change experts will today set out new plans for tackling global warming in the event that countries cannot reduce their carbon emissions in time.

Dubbed ‘Plan B’ the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has looked at the possibility of sucking carbon dioxide out of the air and reflecting sunlight into space.

The document is important because it will be used as scientific guidance for governments as they negotiate a new global climate pact, set to be adopted in 2015.

However some environmental activists watching the talks in Berlin believe geoengineering should not be attempted.

They worry that such technologies would be ineffective, possibly harmful and delay efforts to shift the world’s energy system from oil and coal to low-carbon energy sources like wind and solar power.

Here we look at some of the more wacky ideas that have been put forward to mitigate global warming.

Moon mining and capturing an asteroid

It has been proposed that a dust cloud made of Moon or asteroid dust could be created around the Earth to block solar radiation

In 2012 scientists at the University of Strathclyde suggested capturing an asteroid and dragging it into the Langrange Point – halfway between the Earth and the Moon – where it would create a stream of dust surrounding the Earth and blocking out the Sun.

They suggested using 1036 Ganymed which would create a cloud of around 2,600km wide.

However the scientists admitted that a miscalculation could cause 1036 Ganymed to hit the Earth, which would end human civilization and most of life on the planet.

They also accepted that they have no idea if a dust cloud would have the desired effect. If it blocked out too much sunlight it could tip Earth back into a new ice age.

In a 2007 paper Curtis Struck of Iowa State University proposed that mining on the Moon would throw up a cloud of dust for decades which could protect the Earth from solar radiation.

He predicted the amount of dust could be calculated so that it would dissipate once global warming had slowed down.

Struck claimed that lasers could break up Moon boulders into dust and 300 metric tons could be delivered into space for 10 years. However he admitted it might not be popular.

“The Earth night sky view would be drastically changed with very bright moon clouds around the Lunar orbit. Generally the night sky would be much brighter than at full Moon," he warned.

“Ground and Earth-orbit astronomy would be devastated in may wavebands. There is also a danger of meter-sized pieces of debris finding their way to Earth.

On the plus side he noted: “Brighter nights would reduce the need for excessive artificial lighting.”

Critics warned it could destabilise the Moon's effect on tides but the impact is likely to have little effect, scientists believe.


Giant space parasol

So simple a child could have come up with it, scientists say a huge sunshade between Earth and the sun would control the amount of energy that reaches our planet.

An enormous shield of mirrors would be placed at the first Lagrange Point between Earth and the Sun.

Shielding the Earth is not a new idea. In the mid-1960s, US scientists first discussed meeting any future global warming by floating billions of small reflecting objects, such as white golf balls, across the tropical oceans to reflect the Sun’s rays.

A Bristol University study found that the sunshade can effectively cool the tropics, but its effects are more moderate in the polar regions.

This is because the tropics receives more sunlight than the higher latitudes, so reduced sunshine has a bigger impact near the equator than at high latitudes, where the warming by the sun is relatively small to start with.

The sunshade, then, is not enough to keep the polar region from warming, and it would not stop the melting of the arctic sea ice.

Once launched, it will combat global warming by partially blocking sunlight. Estimates are that it could constructed about 25 years at a cost of a few trillion dollars.


Shiny clouds

It may seem like the stuff of science fiction but researchers have suggested that clouds could be made more shiny to reflect the Sun’s rays back into space.

Low level stratocumulus clouds already cover around one third of the ocean’s surface .

How ‘white’ a cloud looks is known as its ‘Albedo’ level. Scientists believe they can increase this level by spraying sea water droplets into the air.

Researchers from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, suggested that ships could be dispatched to spray sea water droplets at a rate of 50 cubic meters per second over a large portion of the Earth's ocean surface.

Report authors John Lathan and Stephen Salter claim the technique would reverse the warming effect of a doubling of carbon dioxide.

The Royal Society claimed 1,500 ships would be needed to ‘seed the clouds’ and create the desired cooling effect.


Iron filings in the sea

Dumping piles of iron filings in the sea may not sound the greenest of policies but "seeding" infertile areas of the ocean is known to create plankton "blooms" which take up thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.

The plankton then dies, taking carbon to the bottom of the sea where it can remain for centuries.

In 2012 a team from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany added several tonnes of iron sulphate to the ocean near Antarctica.

The addition of the missing nutrient prompted a massive bloom of phytoplankton to begin growing within a week.

As the phytoplankton began to die after three weeks, they sank towards the ocean floor, taking the carbon they had incorporated with them.

In the journal Nature, the scientists concluded that the carbon is likely to be kept out of the atmosphere for many centuries or longer.

The team claims that ocean iron fertilisation could bury at most one gigatonne of carbon dioxide per year, around an eighth of global emissions.


Creating fake volcanoes

After observing that volcanoes cool the planet by spewing sulphates into the atmosphere scientists began carrying out experiments to see if it could be created artificially.

The sulphates reflect the radiation of the Sun back into space before it can warm the Earth creating a ‘global dimming’ effect.

Around one kilogram of sulphur in the stratosphere would roughly offset the warming effect of several hundred thousand kilograms of carbon dioxide.

However getting stratospheric sulphate aerosols into the atmosphere may be problematic. Balloons, fighter planes and artillery shells have all been proposed.

Harvard University has been trialling high altitude air balloons, but they cannot carry a large payload.

Critics claim the technique could lead to environmental damage, causing droughts and depleting ozone.

The diffusion of sunlight may also affect plant growth and increase the rate of ocean acidification.

And, as an aesthetic aside, it is likely to ruin the sunset.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #454
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http://weaselzippers.us/183066-al-go...nd-despicable/

Al Gore Calls Global Warming Skeptics “Immoral, Unethical And Despicable”…



Keepin’ it classy.

Via Honolulu Civil Beat:

Quote:
The man who was almost president graced Honolulu with his presence Tuesday and walked us through a “seminar of sustainability.”

By turns a university professor, a wry observer, a recovering politician, a joke teller and a Southern preacher, Al Gore fired up an audience of thousands at the Stan Sheriff Center to believe that global warming can be stopped. But it’s possible only if each of us does our part.

“Ultimately, we are going to win this thing,” he said, one of many statements met with hearty applause.

He also managed to repeatedly gush over fellow Democrats Neil Abercrombie and Brian Schatz, who he singled out multiple times as leading the fight here at home and in Washington to tackle the environmental crisis head on. [...]

But Gore cited two “game changers” in recent years that will help. The first is the growing realization from even climate-change deniers that something seems to be strange with the weather. The second is the exponential growth in photovoltaic solar panels, driven largely by consumer demand for lower prices.

The “barriers” to doing something about climate change are business and political interests that profit off of fossil fuels — “dirty energy that causes dirty weather.” He compared fake science from polluters stating that humans are not to blame for the climate to tobacco companies that used to hire actors to play doctors who denied cigarettes were dangerous.

“That’s immoral, unethical and despicable,” he said of both.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #455
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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-21-04-02-59

Apr 21, 4:02 AM EDT
Study: Fuels from corn waste not better than gas
By DINA CAPPIELLO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term, a study shows, challenging the Obama administration's conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help combat climate change.

A $500,000 study paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change concludes that biofuels made with corn residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline.

While biofuels are better in the long run, the study says they won't meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel.

The conclusions deal a blow to what are known as cellulosic biofuels, which have received more than a billion dollars in federal support but have struggled to meet volume targets mandated by law. About half of the initial market in cellulosics is expected to be derived from corn residue.

The biofuel industry and administration officials immediately criticized the research as flawed. They said it was too simplistic in its analysis of carbon loss from soil, which can vary over a single field, and vastly overestimated how much residue farmers actually would remove once the market gets underway.

"The core analysis depicts an extreme scenario that no responsible farmer or business would ever employ because it would ruin both the land and the long-term supply of feedstock. It makes no agronomic or business sense," said Jan Koninckx, global business director for biorefineries at DuPont.

Later this year the company is scheduled to finish a $200 million-plus facility in Nevada, Iowa, that will produce 30 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol using corn residue from nearby farms. An assessment paid for by DuPont said that the ethanol it will produce there could be more than 100 percent better than gasoline in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

The research is among the first to attempt to quantify, over 12 Corn Belt states, how much carbon is lost to the atmosphere when the stalks, leaves and cobs that make up residue are removed and used to make biofuel, instead of left to naturally replenish the soil with carbon. The study found that regardless of how much corn residue is taken off the field, the process contributes to global warming.

"I knew this research would be contentious," said Adam Liska, the lead author and an assistant professor of biological systems engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "I'm amazed it has not come out more solidly until now."

The Environmental Protection Agency's own analysis, which assumed about half of corn residue would be removed from fields, found that fuel made from corn residue, also known as stover, would meet the standard in the energy law. That standard requires cellulosic biofuels to release 60 percent less carbon pollution than gasoline.

Cellulosic biofuels that don't meet that threshold could be almost impossible to make and sell. Producers wouldn't earn the $1 per gallon subsidy they need to make these expensive fuels and still make a profit. Refiners would shun the fuels because they wouldn't meet their legal obligation to use minimum amounts of next-generation biofuels.

EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said in a statement that the study "does not provide useful information relevant to the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from corn stover ethanol."

But an AP investigation last year found that the EPA's analysis of corn-based ethanol failed to predict the environmental consequences accurately.

The departments of Agriculture and Energy have initiated programs with farmers to make sure residue is harvested sustainably. For instance, farmers will not receive any federal assistance for conservation programs if too much corn residue is removed.

A peer-reviewed study performed at the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory in 2012 found that biofuels made with corn residue were 95 percent better than gasoline in greenhouse gas emissions. That study assumed some of the residue harvested would replace power produced from coal, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it's unclear whether future biorefineries would do that.

Liska agrees that using some of the residue to make electricity, or planting cover crops, would reduce carbon emissions. But he did not include those in his computer simulation.

Still, corn residue is likely to be a big source early on for cellulosic biofuels, which have struggled to reach commercial scale. Last year, for the fifth time, the EPA proposed reducing the amount required by law. It set a target of 17 million gallons for 2014. The law envisioned 1.75 billion gallons being produced this year.

"The study says it will be very hard to make a biofuel that has a better greenhouse gas impact than gasoline using corn residue," which puts it in the same boat as corn-based ethanol, said David Tilman, a professor at the University of Minnesota who has done research on biofuels' emissions from the farm to the tailpipe.

Tilman said it was the best study on the issue he has seen so far.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #456
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Global Warming Update: Polar Bears Threatened by Excessive Ice

Could it be that global warming moonbats actually got something right? It turns out the flourishing polar bears are actually threatened after all:

Five meters of ice– about 16 feet thick – is threatening the survival of polar bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea region along Alaska’s Arctic coast, according to Dr. Susan J. Crockford, an evolutionary biologist in British Columbia who has studied polar bears for most of her 35-year career.

That’s because the thick ice ridges could prevent ringed seals, the bears’ major prey, from creating breathing holes they need to survive in the frigid waters, Crockford told CNSNews.com.

“Prompted by reports of the heaviest sea ice conditions on the East Coast ‘in decades’ and news that ice on the Great Lakes is, for mid-April, the worst it’s been since records began, I took a close look at the ice thickness charts for the Arctic,” Crockford noted in her Polar Bear Science blog on April 18th.

“Sea ice charts aren’t a guarantee that this heavy spring ice phenomenon is developing in the Beaufort, but they could be a warning,” she wrote, noting that they “don’t bode well” for the Beaufort bears.

The poor darlings.

Since according to liberal ideology affordable conventional light bulbs make it be too hot outside, a law should be passed at once making these legal again so that we can melt the ice and save the sacred man-eating polar bears.

By the way, The Goracle predicted in 2007 (the year he won the Nobel Peace Prize for telling global warming lies) that all the arctic ice could be gone by last summer. Yet vast amounts of other people’s money continue to be flushed away in the name of his debunked hoax.
 
Old May 6th, 2014 #457
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http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/05/po...lobal-warming/

Podesta: Congress Can’t Stop Obama On Global Warming
4:24 PM 05/05/2014



White House adviser John Podesta told reporters Monday afternoon that Congress could not derail the Obama administration’s efforts to unilaterally enact policies to fight global warming.

Podesta said that the president was committed to using executive orders to pass regulations under the Clean Air Act to limit carbon dioxide emissions that they say cause global warming.

“They may try, but there are no takers at this end of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Podesta told reporters at a Monday press conference at the White House.

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have urged the Obama administration to scale back their climate goals because of the adverse impact of new regulations on the coal industry. Coal supporters have portrayed the administration’s actions as the “war on coal” due to huge job losses in coal states like Kentucky and West Virginia.

“We’re getting the living crap beaten out of us,” West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin told President Obama’s nominee to be the country’s top energy regulator last year. “There has been nothing more beat up than coal.”

“They just beat the living daylights out of little West Virginia, but they sure like what we produce,” Manchin told former nominee Ron Binz. “We could do it a lot better if we had a government working with us as a partner.”

Last year, Manchin eventually joined Republicans to oppose Binz’s nomination to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee. Manchin was concerned that Binz would promote renewable energy at the expense of coal power.

Republicans have also united to oppose many of Obama’s most controversial global warming policies, introducing numerous bill in both houses of Congress aimed at repealing regulatory actions. The latest Republican effort to derail Obama’s climate goals came from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who introduced legislation to repeal all energy tax subsidies, which would hurt renewable energy growth.

“Washington should not be using taxpayer money to pick winners and losers in the energy industry,” Lee said in a statement. “Consumer-driven, free-market competition provides a much better way to ensure Americans have access to reliable, affordable energy.

Obama has made 2014 his “year of action” — promising to use his executive authority to implement various actions of the president’s agenda that are too divisive for Congress to consider. Podesta was brought into the White House late last year to help Obama find ways to use executive orders to unilaterally push climate policies.

Podesta authored a report in 2010 outlining ways the president could use his executive authority to push a progressive agenda, including unilateral actions on climate policy. Podesta wrote that the president could use executive power to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent by 2020 — the very goal the Obama plans to meet using his executive powers.

Podesta also wrote that the Environmental Protection Agency could “spur the retirement of coal-fired power plants” and replace them with natural gas plants by imposing stricter emissions limits. Last year, the EPA announced limits that would effectively ban coal-fired power plants unless they install costly carbon capture and storage technology — the result of an Obama executive order from last year.

The EPA is set to release emissions limits for existing coal-fired power plants later this year. The agency has already enacted regulations in the past that are already contributing to coal plant shutdowns throughout the country. According to the Energy Information Administration, coal plant shutdowns are happening at an accelerating rate with 60 gigawatts set to retire by 2020.

Nearly 90 percent of those retirements will take place by 2016, the year power companies have to comply with the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) which limit mercury emissions as well as other air pollutants. By 2040, the country will have lost 15 percent of its coal-fired capacity, says EIA, though some estimates say the coal power loss could be higher.

The Obama administration’s most recent attempt to lower U.S. greenhouse gas emissions is to target methane emissions. A major part of his plan will be to limit emissions from the dairy industry, which sees large amounts of emissions from cow flatulence and burps. Republicans have warned that methane regulations could in effect become a tax on cow farts, but the administration does not seem to be backing off.
 
Old May 21st, 2014 #458
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Is global warming going to send the cost of your breakfast soaring? Report claims cereal prices will surge 44 per cent


So if the average temperature continues to stay constant the cost of breakfast will stay constant? If the average temperature declines, the cost of breakfast will decline?


Quote:
  • Oxfam says firms could face financial ruin if they don't tackle climate change
  • 'Big 10' food and drink firms 'emit more greenhouse gases then Scandinavia'
  • Food supplies are being affected by shifting weather due to climate change
  • The charity predicts 50 million more people will go hungry as a result
  • Calls on companies including Kellogg's to take action and reduce emissions
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Old June 16th, 2014 #459
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Denying climate change is like saying the moon is made of cheese, argues Obama as he takes on global warming deniers at commencement speech


How can any deny that obongo is not a stupid nigger?

Denying that niggers not Human "is like saying the moon is made of cheese".


Quote:
  • Obama gave the commencement address at UC Irvine on Saturday
  • He says Congress is 'full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject the scientific evidence' of climate change
  • While in Orange County, the president also attended a closed-door fundraiser at the Laguna Beach home of Getty oil heiress Anne Earhart
__________________
Quote:
"I die in the faith of my people. May the German people be aware of its enemies!"
Paul Blobel, SS Officer, 1951, last words prior to being executed
 
Old July 8th, 2014 #460
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Default Government Data Show U.S. in Decade-Long Cooling

Government Data Show U.S. in Decade-Long Cooling

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s most accurate, up-to-date temperature data confirm the United States has been cooling for at least the past decade. The NOAA temperature data are driving a stake through the heart of alarmists claiming accelerating global warming.

Responding to widespread criticism that its temperature station readings were corrupted by poor siting issues and suspect adjustments, NOAA established a network of 114 pristinely sited temperature stations spread out fairly uniformly throughout the United States. Because the network, known as the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), is so uniformly and pristinely situated, the temperature data require no adjustments to provide an accurate nationwide temperature record. USCRN began compiling temperature data in January 2005. Now, nearly a decade later, NOAA has finally made the USCRN temperature readings available.

According to the USCRN temperature readings, U.S. temperatures are not rising at all – at least not since the network became operational 10 years ago. Instead, the United States has cooled by approximately 0.4 degrees Celsius, which is more than half of the claimed global warming of the twentieth century.

Of course, 10 years is hardly enough to establish a long-term trend. Nevertheless, the 10-year cooling period does present some interesting facts.

First, global warming is not so dramatic and uniform as alarmists claim. For example, prominent alarmist James Hansen claimed in 2010, “Global warming on decadal time scales is continuing without letup … effectively illustrat[ing] the monotonic and substantial warming that is occurring on decadal time scales.” The word “monotonic” means, according to Merriam-Webster Online, “having the property either of never increasing or of never decreasing as the values of the independent variable or the subscripts of the terms increase.” Well, either temperatures are decreasing by 0.4 degrees Celsius every decade or they are not monotonic.

Second, for those who may point out U.S. temperatures do not equate to global temperatures, the USCRN data are entirely consistent with – and indeed lend additional evidentiary support for – the global warming stagnation of the past 17-plus years. While objective temperature data show there has been no global warming since sometime last century, the USCRN data confirm this ongoing stagnation in the United States, also.
 
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